Is that you I see?

Sunset at Sandbanks

Doboj Salon 2013

One of my photos at the international photographic exhibition Doboj Salon 2013 in  Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Self Portrait

How I see myself in a mirror with lights off and eyes closed:

Bristol. England, 2013

All rights reserved

Thy skull

I have to admit it....I like skulls.

I like to stroll among ancient grave stones and to look at the ornaments of old churches.

so there you go, here's one of my latest finds.

It was in a dark corner and I simply walked past it till somebody opened a door. The light came in and it suddenly was there. Vaguely shy.

We talked for a bit and asked him if I could take a photo of him. He told me to go on but he was not able to sign the model release form.

I hope this won't go legal one day!!

The art of composition

Mastering the art of composition is probably the most challenging aspect of an artist's path, but also the most rewarding.  This is something nobody can teach you because it is a very subjective topic, because your work has to turn into the reflection of your soul and its multi-faced complexity.

No need to telly you that in the long run what will set you apart from the myriads of photographers that you see around is the ability to develop your own vision and style.

It doesn't mean you will be appreciated and become famous but at least you will be unique....and you art will satisfy your need to express yourself.

Although composition is something that you will learn with time, experience and experiments there are anyway some basic concepts that can help you understand why some works of art in history have been more appreciated than others. Learning these very rules for an artist is quite important, it will be then  up to you whether to apply these rules or not, but most important one day you will do it in a non-conscious way.

There are many books and articles on the internet that explains the rules of composition and it is all good and nice. In my opinion the best way to learn is to look and understand the work of the old masters of painting.

Photography: Gate, Old Street Station, London 2013

                                      copyright Emiliano Santoro

Photography: Passage, London, 2013

Everything flows with[the] horrible mysteries of ancient landscapes;

of strongholds visited, of large estates:

it is along these banks that you can hear

the dead passions of errant knights:

but how the wind is wholesome!
Blackcurrant river (A.Rimbaud)

    Copyright Emiliano Santoro. London 2013

Photography: Strasbourg, France

copyright Emiliano Santoro. all rights reserved. Strasbourg 2013

How can you be sure you are looking at the photo....and not the other way round?

The days of film photography pt.3 - Printing - by Glenn Pierce

In printmaking, photography at last yields its prize. For me it was the most pleasurable part of the whole imaging process. To see an image appearing on photo paper in the developer tray was a grand and fun experience.

The Print -- Part 1

Photo paper came in literally hundreds of various options of texture, finish, tint and image tone. In addition,each kind of paper came in several grades, which determined the contrast between the tones of gray. You found the ones that suited your style of photography & printmaking.

                                          Docking Pier-Glenn Pierce

The days of film photography pt.2 - Printing - by Glenn Pierce

Well folks we have developed our film and are ready to make B&W prints 1-3 days later after shooting our images --- No! We now have to make contact sheets of the negatives to see the actual images. These contact sheets are much like a grid view of your images in Lightroom.

1. In the darkroom under a safe light, low wattage yellow light, you take a sheet of photo paper and placed it on the base of the enlarger with your film strips on top under a piece of glass.

2. Adjusted the enlarger for wide open F-stop (yes enlargers had F-stop adjustments same has cameras).

3. Turn on enlarger light for approx. 5 seconds.

Man swimming, Syracuse, Sicily 2013

The days of film photography pt.1 - Film Development - by Glenn Pierce

Glenn Pierce is an american photographer and friend of mine. He is also a mentor who helped me (and still helps me) improve my work. He advised me on how to look at my work with critical eye and always pushed me to put more effort on the post production phase.
If I have doubts about a photo he's the one I go to!!

One day I asked him how the whole film processing worked, when there was no digital, no Photoshop:

…if you are a history buff about photography I will over the next several weeks relate to you in small steps how I first got started in photography & B&W darkroom work in the early 1970's.

What you would have to put in perspective is that we had no internet, computers, credit cards, pay pal, cell phones, etc...

The idea of family

The image cannot be used or reproduced without the author permission.

©Emy Santoro

Riots in Brighton

March for England and counter protest

self portrait with obsessions

Whatever you are thinking...is wrong.

There is something about the ordinary that can be re framed and proliferate into your imaginary unconsciousness.

"...and if you wanted to you said a prayer. If you didn't want to I guess you just stood there and felt shitty about everything"

Jim Carrol

The longest path

I don't usually do landscape photography since I find it quite boring. Landscape photographers tend to use too much photoshop to win over the always growing internet competition to the point of making the subjects unreal.

Although I leave Hollywood like effects to photographers who spend more time on the computer than on the camera I still like sometimes to experiment with this media.

Anyway, the weather is horrible outside!

This was taken in Sicily.